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INDEPENDENCE OF THE CUBAN REPUBLIC. 



SPEECH 



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HON. HUGH A;DINSMORE, 



OF ARKANSAS, 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



APRIL 13, 1 S9S. 



W^SHINCTOM. 
1898. 



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G r E E C H 

OP 

HON. HUGH A. DINSMOEE 



The SPEAKER. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania [Mr. Adams] upon the resolution which will be 
read. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That the President is hereby authorized and directed to intervene 
at once to stop the war in Cuba, to the end and with the purpose of securing 
permanent peace and order there and establishing by the free action of the 
people thereof a stable and independent government of their own in the 
Island of Cuba; and the President is hereby authorized and empowered touse 
the land and naval forces of the United States to execute the purpose of this 
resolution. 

Mr. ADAMS. For the purpose of permitting the gentleman 
from Kentucky [Mr. Berry] to offer the minority resolution, I 
yield to him, reserving? my rights. 

Mr. BERRY. I offer as a substitute the minority report of the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Berry] 
offers as a substitute the resolution which will be read. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved bi/ the Senate and Ifoitse of Representatives of the United States of 
America in Congress assembled. That the United States Government hereby 
recognizes the independence of the Republic of Cuba. 

Sec. 3. That, moved thereto by many considerations of humanity, of inter- 
est, and of provocation, among which are the deliberate mooring of oiir bat- 
tleship, the 3/anie, over a submarine mine and its destruction in theharborof 
Havana, the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, directed to 
employ immediately the land and naval forces of the United States in aiding 
the Republic of Cuba to maintain the independence hereby recognized. 

Sec. 3. That the President of the United States is hereby authorized and 
directed to extend immediate relief to the starving people of Cuba. 

Mr. DINSMORE. Mr. Speaker, as there seems to be no other 
method of getting the views of the minority before the House in 
the report submitted by them, I desire to read for the informa- 
tion of this body, in my own time, wliat they have presented on 
this occasion. 

REPORT. 

We, the undersigned members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 
House of Representatives, having considered the message of the President 
of the United States, which was transmitted to Congress on Monday, April 
11, 1898, and referred to said committee, submit the following report to the 
House of Representatives: 

We recommend the following resolutions as a substitute for the resolu- 
tions submitted by the ma.iority of the Committee on Foreign Affairs: 

"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of 
America in Co)igress assembled, That the United States Government hereby 
recognizes the independence of the Repiiblic of Cuba. 

"Sec. i. That, moved thereto by many considerations of humanity, of m- 
terest, and of provocation, among which are the deliberate mooring of oiir 
3235 3 



battle ship, the Maine, over a submarine mine and its destruction in the har- 
bor of Havana, the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, di- 
rected to employ immediately the land and naval forces of the United 
States in aiding the Republic of Cuba to maintain the independence hereby 

" §Ec!3. That the President of the United States is hereby authorized and 
directed to extend immediate relief to the starving people of Cuba." 

In siipjiort of the first resolution, guided by motives of humanity and of 
interest, influenced by divers provocations, among which are the deliberate 
mooring of our battle ship, the Maine, over a suVmiarine mine, its ruthless 
de.struction in the harbor of Havana, and the death of 2C6 seamen, we submit 
the facts to the House, to our countrymen, and to the world. 

For more than a quarter of a century, with short intervals, a revolution 
has been in progress in Cuba, destroying our commerce and causing great 
tiuancial loss to our citizens and unprecedented mortality among the con- 
tending factions. 

For more tlian three years the Cuban patriots have struggled for freedom 
■with courage, fortitude, and self-abnegation unexcelled in the annals of the 
human race. These people are our near neighbors, closely connected with 
us by ties of business and of friendship. In their aspirations for liberty they 
have been animated by our example and have modeled their form of govern- 
ment upon ours. 

During those three years the Spaniards have butchered those people, 
starved helpless women, children, and old men by hundreds of thousands, 
and have wasted the island by fire and sword in violation of all the rules of 
civilized warfare. These acts of barbarous cruelty have filled the American 
people with horror, and they are practically unanimous in favor of recog- 
nizing the independence of the government e.stablished by that brave and 
heroic people by the expenditure of so much treasure and so much blood, 
and our people will be satisfied with nothing less. 

The government which the Cubans have established has all the forms of a 
republic, and is a republic in fact, based on manhood suffrage, with legisla- 
tive and executive departments in full operation, and with a Judicial depart- 
ment so far perfect as the exigencies of the situation permit. 

They levy and collect taxes, disburse large sums of money, conduct a postal 
system, maintain an army of 30,0tK) men in the field, have defended themselves 
successfully against 2~'),(X)0 Spanish soldiers, 135,000 of whom are in hospitals 
or in their' graves, and are now in undisputed possession of three-fourths of 
the island. Out.side her picket lines Spain possesses not one foot of Cuban soil. 
Within her picket lines three-fourths of the population are insurgents at 
heart, who will cordially participate in the republican government as soon 
as the Spaniards evacuate the island. 

With these facts staring ns in the face, we must realize that Spain can 
never conquer Cuba, and that ultimately we must recognize the independence 
of the Cuban Republic. This being the case, the sooner we act the Ijetter for 
all concerned, thereby putting an end to the sacrifice of human life and the 
destruction of property. 

We urge the unequivocal recognition of the independence of the Cuban 
Republic, because the Cuban patriots merit such recognition by their valor 
and prowess in arms; because recognition is the plain, honest, courageous, 
manly course, and will remove from the minds of all men any suspicion that 
we are preparing to wage a war of conquest and to annex the island from 
motives of sordid greed, or as the beginning of a policy of imperial aggran- 
dizement. We urge the recognition of the existing republic, because, under 
international law, only an existing government can be recognized, and be- 
cause by recognizing theitresent republic we lift from the minds of the Cuban 
patriots the fear that we will force upon them a government which they do 
not want; we urge it because without such recognition, in the event of war 
b.^tween Spain and the American Republic, it would bo a war against Cuba 
also, for until the recognition of her independence she is, in the contem- 
plation of international law, still a part of Spain. 

Recognizing the independence of their republic will give the Cubans credit 
among the nations of the earth, thereby enabling them to use all their re- 
sources to the utmost, and will influence men of other countries to reeaf orca 
the Cubans with the assurance that they will be treated as soldiers and will 
not be hanged as traitors, filibusters, or pirates in the event of capture. 

We urge the passage of the second resolution, providing for armed inter- 
vention, as a necessary and logical sequence to the recognition of the inde- 
pendence of the CuUm Republic. 

Facts must be considered as they actually exist, not as we would have 
them , and one of the most potent and patent facts of the situation is that Spain 
refuses to roaliae what all the rest of the world knows to be true, that Cuba 
has pas.sod from her control forever. This being the case, she will hold on 
with the stri>ngtli of despair to fragments of tlie island as long as possible, 
thereby perpetuating the process of starvation, arson, and extermination 



wherever she can, and by occasional forays ravagringthe country adjacent to 
her garrisons and stockades. We have no doubt that our simple recognition 
of the Republic of Cuba would enable the Cubans themselves to ultimately 
expel the Spaniards from every portion of the island. 

Armed intervention on our part would end the agony of this brave people, 
save thousands of thorn from death, and speedily close the most disgraceful 
chaiiter in the history of the Western Hemisphere. We owe this duty to our- 
Belves no less tlian to the Cubans. 

We' recommend the adoption of the third resolution, to feed the famished 
Cubans, as an act of meref and humanity. 

^ \ HUGH A. DINSMORE. 

FRANCIS G. NEWLANDS. 

CHAMP CLARK. 

JOHN S. WILLIAMS. 

A. S. BERRY. 

WM. M. HOWARD. 

Mr. Speaker, I reccret as much as any gentleman on this floor 
can regret the manifestation of partisanship that bas transpired 
here this afternoon during these proceedings. It appears to me, 
sir, that if there was ever a period in the history of this Govern- 
ment that calls for statesmanship, when patriotic dignity should 
have characterized our conduct, and partisanship should have been 
subordinated to statesmanship, that period is now. [Prolonged 
applause on the Democratic side.] 

We are confronted by the most critical situation witnessed in 
in very many years by the people of the United States. Our peo- 
ple have long recognized that this point would ultimately be 
reached, unless those who represented the people in the Congress 
of the United States performed their full duty and took the cour- 
ageous stand dictated by prudence and statesmanship and com- 
mon sense. [Applause.] 

As has been well said by my friend from Tennessee [Mr. McMfl- 
Lin] , it has been and is now my conviction that if we had done our 
duty, if we had taken this position a year ago, this matter would 
hsve been settled, Cuba would have been free, and the sailors of the 
Maine, who sleep now in a watery grave, would have been alive 
to bear their arms and carry to victory the flag of our countrj'. 
[Applause.] Throughout all of the history of the Government 
Spanish civilization on the American continent has been a menace 
to us and to our institutions. Throughout the whole history of our 
past it has presented to us great embarrassment and difficult prob- 
lems with which we had to deal. 

In all the various Spani.sh settlements and colonies on this con- 
tinent we have had the same perplexing problems that we have met 
with and are meeting now. We have taken those colonies by the 
hand in the past and inducted them into the glorious field of state- 
hood. And so again to-day, after all of these years of Spain's gov- 
ernment of Cuba, with the patriots struggling for liberty and to 
protect themselves from oppression, with courage and heroic 
devotion to the cause of liberty, we extend our hands to them who 
for thirty years have foiaght Spanish oppression, Spanish brutality, 
Spanish "butchery, and Spanish wrong. [Prolonged applause.] 

Now, Mr. Speaker, we do not say to them to-day — I speak now 
for my colleagues on this side of the House— we do not say to the 
people who for years past in an unequal figlit, have been compelled 
to see their wives and children suffer and starve in the cause of 
liberty, we do not say we are coming with an army into your terri- 
tory to establish a government which in our judgment will be a 
"stable government," which will be a possible government and a 
peaceful government. " We shall give you permanent peace, but 
c235 



6 

we must jiuli^e of tlie permanency of that peace ourselve.?, and we 
must judge of the stability of that government." 

We say not that to them. But we present a very different pro- 
posal in the views submitted by my colleagues and myself. We say 
to them we recognize the fact that you have an organized govern- 
ment, a constitution, a cabinet, officers duly appointed, the reve- 
nues being collected in the territory that you occupy, and we are 
not going'to force upon you a government that may be a " carpet- 
bag" government, run by somebody else outside of your own 
dominion. [Applause.] But we propose to give you a represent- 
ative government of your own people, by yourselves, by officials 
chosen in your own way. • [Prolonged applause.] 

There are many reasons, Mr. Speaker, why we should do so. 
You can not recognize a people. A people, except in an organized 
capacity, is not recognizable in an international way, but when 
organized into a government we may rationally and properly ac- 
knowledge them as a free and independent government. But, 
sir, the people of Cuba, when we do recognize them in that way, 
acquire some benefits to themselves, and the government which 
they represent, and they will not of necessity be considered as 
enemies of the United States in case war shall be declared by the 
United States against Spain. 

What are they now? Are they Cuban belligerents? Have you 
ever acknowledged that they were? What are they now? Are 
they citizens of a republic? By what action of the American 
Government have they ever been recognized as such? To-day in 
international view they can only be considered as Spanish sub- 
jects, and when the armies of the United States go down to Cuba 
to meet the Spanish forces, they go there to war upon Spain as 
represented by her soldiers there and her subjects in Cuba, who 
are the Cubans themselves. 

This, Mr. Speaker, is cruel. This is not in accordance with the 
Bentiments which have characterized the expressions of gentlemen 
in this House for so many days, so many weeks, and so many 
months that we have been here. We talk about liberty. Then, 
let us give to the Cubans liberty. [Applause on the Democratic 
side.] " We talk about freedom. Let us give to themthe right to 
establish a government which they think will be a free govern- 
ment, and which does not reserve to us, the Government of the 
United States, the right to say, after it is established, "Ah, this is 
not a ' stable' government; we can not turn it over to you yet; we 
must look after this thing.'" 

And, again, Mr. Speaker, there are questions of debt to be con- 
sidered. There are (luestions of bonds. I do not accuse the gen- 
tlemen opposing me of having this in view and of desiring to make 
our Government liable for those bonds. I only mention this as a 
possibility. 

I understand it was stated by Senator Foraker in the Senate 
to-day, asserted as a fact, of international law, and 1 have thought 
myself all along that there were substantial grounds on which to 
base such an opinion, that in case we intervene in Cuba, without 
giving recognition to the government which there exists, we there- 
by become responsible for the payment of the Spanish bonds which 
have been floated on the credit of the revenues of Cuba and which 
are hypothecated upon those revenues. Shall we do this? Gen- 
tlemen of the majority, meet us upon the grounds contained in 
our resolution! 
L23j 



"We heard the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Grosvenor] say the 
other day that Cuban independence was going to be recognized, 
Cuban independence! There can be no Cuban independence except 
in the independence of its government in the hands of its own 
officials. [Applause on the Democratic side.] 

But the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. GtROSVENor], being the 
friend of the President and supposed to voice his sentiments, says 
that the President of the United States is in favor of the inde- 
pendence of Cuba. Did he demand of Spain the independence of 
Cuba? Oh, no; we were made to believe so, but he did not. His 
minister told the Spanish cabinet that the President did not de- 
mand independence. HisAttorney-Gieneral,itseems, thought that 
"stable" was the diplomatic word for independence, and in his 
message to Congress the President, to be consistent with his de- 
mands upon Spain, only asks that a stable government be given to 
the Cubans. Oh, the pity of it! Oh, the humiliation to all true 
Americans! Long and anxiously in this House have we waited 
for some message or expression from the President of the United 
States conveying to our anxious ears the glad news that he be- 
lieved in the independence of Cuba. When did it come? He sent 
us the message which was read in thehearingof all the members of 
this House. Notwithstanding the statements which have been 
made in trying to bolster up that document since, you all know 
how it fell like a wet blanket upon that side of the House, upon 
the patriotic men over there whose hearts bled for the suffering 
Cubans, struggling for the liberties that every American believes 
every God-born individual has a right to possess. 

Mr. Speaker, I, for one, have become convinced by deliberate 
consideration of the testimony brought before a legally-constituted 
i;aval court, composed of officers who have honored commissions, 
who have been honored by commissions of the United States 
Government — without going into details, for that time is not per- 
mitted to me — I believe that the Maine disaster was the result of 
deliberate official action of the Spaniards. [Applause.] 

Not that Blanco knew it, not that he ordered it, but that it 
must of necessity inevitably have been done by some official of 
the Spanish Government familiar with and having tlie secrets of 
the submarine mines deposited there for the protection of that 
harbor. 

Now, Sir, in conclusion, the grave responsibilities of this situa- 
tion are to be discharged by every member in the House in accord- 
ance with the allegiance and the duty which he owes to his own 
country and his own Hag. We ought to do that which would be 
an honor to the American colors, because if we impose a wrong on 
Cuba it redounds to the dishonor of our own Republic. Our peo- 
ple have become irresistible in their dem:inds for the action of this 
body, else we all know that this action could never have been 
brought about. 

We offer to you and to the country our substitute for j-our res- 
olution, and appeal to the wisdom, patriotism, and judgment of 
our fellow-citizens, and for the rectitude of our intentions, the 
integrity of our ])urpose, the justice of our position, to that higher 
court which must pass upon the actions of all men and all nations. 
Our fathers' Goil, from out whose hand 
The centuries f.iU like grains of sand 

[Loud applause.] 

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